The Silk Market ~Beijing
Every time I've been to China, we go to the Silk Market to do our touristy shopping. If you go to China you have to go to the Silk Market! It's so much fun!! They pride themselves in their Genuine Imitations of name brand products. They really make a lot of money off those poor unsuspecting tourist who give whatever they ask for:) I don't really consider myself a tourist that much anymore. I'm an experienced traveler:)To China that is. I do think if anything ever happened and had to get back to Beijing by myself, I could do it. It'd be hard and very stretching but I could do it.
I'd feel a lot more comfortable doing something like that in China then here. Me and Betsy would discuss what to do if ever we got separated and could not find dad.
The Silk market sells pretty much anything. Its a HUGE 5 story building. We had a time limit, we had to leave by 1:00 to be able to go to the school for P.E. So we decided to meet at the entrance at about 20 till cuz we had to make some other stops before getting on the subway. I wanted to buy something for Caleb and Genna (I can't say what it is) but I went to this one booth where I had bought something last trip. The girl who worked there recognized me from 6 months ago:) They are very flattering there always complimenting you in hopes of you buying there stuff. This girls keeps saying we were like best friends and had known each other for a while. It was really funny. She would say that 'since I was her good friend' she would give me a discount.
They'll often start at like 200 or 300 yuan there and you can usually work them down to like 30 or 40 yuan with a lot of things. NEVER go for the first price. NEVER!! No matter how much they say how their loosing money and its not worth that little. If you just start walking away they'll yell "ok! ok!" and usually give you your price:)
There was another person I bought something from. He was charging like 300 for it. I'm like "No way. That's too much!" So they'll give you the calculator and have you say how much you want to pay. I'm like "20". He acts all shocked that that's all you want to pay. Then he lowers it down to 280. I'm still like "no" and start walking away. He grabs my arm and pulls me back. Telling me to raise my price and that its very good quality. Every time I tell him my price he's like "shhhhhhh!" so none of the other customers will know how cheap I'm getting it for. I tell him '25' this time. He lowers it down to like 250. I walk away like 10 times and he keeps pulling me back. He makes sure I'm away from the other customers so they won't hear us. When they think your really gonna leave they'll give you your price. So I walk away and avoid him so he can't pull me back and keep walking. He finally hollers at me "ok! ok 25!" I'm laughing the whole time. I have so much fun bargaining at the Silk market.
So when we finished at the Silk market we go to a super market to get some stuff one of which was a ball Mikah needed for P.E. class. After we got everything we needed we hopped on the subway. One thing in China is there's no such thing as 'ladies first' not even the elderly! Like when the subway reaches the end of the line and empties out. They have everyone get out on one said and once its empty they open the doors on the other side. When the doors open all the men rush in to try to get the seats before everyone else so when the doors are closed and every ones in. There's a bunch of guys sitting down and ladies and older people having to stand up. Well once a I did see a young guy give up his seat for an older man and on this ride a young guy went to another seat so dad could seat with us, but other then that there's not much of it. Dad said we should go up and down the car scolding all the guys for acting like that:) Although I have a feeling it would be kinda hard not being able to speak the language.
Mikah had no where to put the ball cuz her backpack was full so she had to hold. While we were on the subway we were playfully tossing it back and forth toe each other. Somehow I ended up holding the ball while we were at a stop. All of a sudden I lost my hold on the ball. I grabbed for it but missed, it hit the floor and rolled out the door. We all watched it as it rolled out the door and just as it rolled out the door, the doors closed! Uh oh! We all burst out laughing. All the people in the car were just looking at us. Oh well we all had a good laugh over it:)
I'd feel a lot more comfortable doing something like that in China then here. Me and Betsy would discuss what to do if ever we got separated and could not find dad.
The Silk market sells pretty much anything. Its a HUGE 5 story building. We had a time limit, we had to leave by 1:00 to be able to go to the school for P.E. So we decided to meet at the entrance at about 20 till cuz we had to make some other stops before getting on the subway. I wanted to buy something for Caleb and Genna (I can't say what it is) but I went to this one booth where I had bought something last trip. The girl who worked there recognized me from 6 months ago:) They are very flattering there always complimenting you in hopes of you buying there stuff. This girls keeps saying we were like best friends and had known each other for a while. It was really funny. She would say that 'since I was her good friend' she would give me a discount.
They'll often start at like 200 or 300 yuan there and you can usually work them down to like 30 or 40 yuan with a lot of things. NEVER go for the first price. NEVER!! No matter how much they say how their loosing money and its not worth that little. If you just start walking away they'll yell "ok! ok!" and usually give you your price:)
There was another person I bought something from. He was charging like 300 for it. I'm like "No way. That's too much!" So they'll give you the calculator and have you say how much you want to pay. I'm like "20". He acts all shocked that that's all you want to pay. Then he lowers it down to 280. I'm still like "no" and start walking away. He grabs my arm and pulls me back. Telling me to raise my price and that its very good quality. Every time I tell him my price he's like "shhhhhhh!" so none of the other customers will know how cheap I'm getting it for. I tell him '25' this time. He lowers it down to like 250. I walk away like 10 times and he keeps pulling me back. He makes sure I'm away from the other customers so they won't hear us. When they think your really gonna leave they'll give you your price. So I walk away and avoid him so he can't pull me back and keep walking. He finally hollers at me "ok! ok 25!" I'm laughing the whole time. I have so much fun bargaining at the Silk market.
So when we finished at the Silk market we go to a super market to get some stuff one of which was a ball Mikah needed for P.E. class. After we got everything we needed we hopped on the subway. One thing in China is there's no such thing as 'ladies first' not even the elderly! Like when the subway reaches the end of the line and empties out. They have everyone get out on one said and once its empty they open the doors on the other side. When the doors open all the men rush in to try to get the seats before everyone else so when the doors are closed and every ones in. There's a bunch of guys sitting down and ladies and older people having to stand up. Well once a I did see a young guy give up his seat for an older man and on this ride a young guy went to another seat so dad could seat with us, but other then that there's not much of it. Dad said we should go up and down the car scolding all the guys for acting like that:) Although I have a feeling it would be kinda hard not being able to speak the language.
Mikah had no where to put the ball cuz her backpack was full so she had to hold. While we were on the subway we were playfully tossing it back and forth toe each other. Somehow I ended up holding the ball while we were at a stop. All of a sudden I lost my hold on the ball. I grabbed for it but missed, it hit the floor and rolled out the door. We all watched it as it rolled out the door and just as it rolled out the door, the doors closed! Uh oh! We all burst out laughing. All the people in the car were just looking at us. Oh well we all had a good laugh over it:)
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| Mikah, Me, Betsy and Corrie playing Dutch Blitz! |
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| Betsy, Me, Corrie, Mikah and Miss Lily at the school. I really like Miss Lily, she's a very sweet lady and spoke English very well. She was the one who translated for dad while he spoke on parenting. |
Ha! That is so funny to see all those names, and that group in China and then see the face of Betsy and it isn't me!
ReplyDeleteI too loved that bargaining. Sorry about the ball, hope you got that cheap too!
So FUN to see my dear China buddies thanks for the pics.